The historical roots of the present day Quimbanda religious tradition are disti

nctly African. Thegreat African slave trade that lasted from 1514 - 1866 brought
a lasting African culturalpresence to Brazil and to the Americas.
Quimbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion
practicedprimarily in the urban city centers of Brazil. Quimbanda practices are
typically associated withprayers and rituals associated with a mixture of variou
s forms of spirituality. Before and evenafter the African diaspora, the present
day religious faith of Quimbanda merged with otherreligious traditions and it is
a mixture of ancient
European Necromancy
and
Sorcery
,
Congoreligious traditions
,
indigenous native Indian beliefs from the Amazon Rain Forest
,
EuropeanSpiritualism
and the
Jewish Kabbalistic magical religious tradition
.Over the course of 500 years of shaping in the New World, the Quimbanda faith,
throughspiritual evolution has emerged and become a very distinct religious beli
ef that is widelyaccepted as a legitimate religious tradition.Although distinctl
y different from its originalreligious practice which had its roots in the Afric
an Congo, the religious concept is identical interms of religious structure and
ritual practice.The word Quimbanda (Kimbanda) actually comes from the African Ba
ntu word meaning healer or shaman. Quimbanda also refers to
"the one who communicates with the beyond".
The Quimbanda magico-religious tradition is the most powerful Congo magical prac
tice foundin the New World and is also known and revered as perhaps being the mo
st dynamic,complicated and the most powerful forms of African magico-religious p
ractices found in LatinAmerica . Quimbanda was originally contained under the Afro
-Brazilian religious tradition of Macumba. In the Mid-20th Century, Macumba spli
t into two religions: Quimbanda andUmbanda. Umbanda represented the more popular
with many Christian elements of Macumba,while Quimbanda retained the distinctiv
ely African traits. Quimbanda has continued todistinguish itself as a religion,
while resisting many, but not all of the Catholic and FrenchSpiritism influences
that have penetrated Umbanda and other Afro-Brazilian religions.The Quimbanda r
eligion was first brought to the United States in the 1920 s by the
De Bourbon-Montenegro Family
who have a long history and involvement with traditional Afro-Brazilianreligions
since the year 1864. The Quimbanda religion has been increasing in popularity i
nrecent years with new converts and practitioners from all around the world and
from everysocio-economic and ethnic walk of life. The reason for its rise in pop
ularity is that the religiousphilosophy and spiritual practice of the Quimbanda
religion answers questions to the meaningof life and it also quickly resolves th
rough spirituality the problems associated with oureveryday life. The rituals of
Quimbanda spiritualism gives individuals a sense of control overtheir lives thr
ough spiritual self-empowerment to believe in themselves and their spiritual bir
thdestiny.Religious practitioners of the Quimbanda religion become aware of the
great power andmysteries found within nature and their spiritual surroundings.
Through a series of progressive